I sit here this morning as I always do… half awake, but beginning prayer and study in what of the Word I can see, while I wait for the coffee to get my eyes to focus clearly enough that I can justify one more day to not spend the money or the time on a visit to the eye doctor (which by the way I have finally made an appointment for, lol).
As I sit here I begin to go over in my mind all the little things I have read about “taking care of me”. The guilt wave begins… “you really should go upstairs now and change into some clothes and exercise, you really need to get more sleep, you really need to not be eating that pop tart and drinking that coffee, you need to take better care of this body, it’ the only one you got, etc”
I see all the pictures rolling down my news feed to get fit, get wrapped, get ripped, eat this, drink that, look like this but wanna look like that… ugh.
Please hold a moment while I shutter and cringe.
The last thing I wanna do is calculate calories… when I am supposed to be calculating the cost.
Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
Luke 14:25-33
This body is also just a possession…
I am sorry, but I don’t see any where in Scripture where Paul looked at anyone and said, “I really would like to share Jesus with you tonight, but it is imperative that I consider this temple that the Lord resides in… therefore it is time for my massage, my body wrap, my pedicure, my one hour work-out, and I must mix my smoothy… and I am just a wreck without a good solid seven to eight hours of sleep…”
So as I read, and even repost, all these articles of the things I must do to keep this sinful shell in shape… I now ask, where in the Word does it say that?
As I think of the men and women in Scripture, as I think about Paul, I believe what I read about him said this…
…in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches.
2 Corinthian 11:23-28
Have you ever noticed how many people in Christendom now a days gripe about how much time and money has been invested into the church buildings instead of the people inside it?
How many of those same gripping people invest more time and money in the outside of their own body than on the spirit within it?
Last week I had someone ask me how I found so much time to spend in the Word… this is the same type of question that has always tripped me up… the other is “so what are you doing now?“
“so what are you doing now?…” I have had a many a woman ask me this… and I always get this blank stare and have no clue what to say… so I have always said, Oh I am a stay-at-home mom.
Until recently, which I now reply, I am the Children’s Ministry Director at Shiloh Baptist Church. {To which my favorite reply was, “Oh (with tilted head and sad face), but that’s just part time isn’t it“, but that’s another blog post in itself.}
I hate talking about myself. I do. So when someone asks me these two questions it means telling them what I really do… and as I tell them I see the guilt sweep over their face and that kills me… and so to the question, how do you spend so much time in the Word… I usually reply, I don’t know.
So in case you truly are curious and you want to know… after pondering on it for a few days, here it is.
I have read through the whole Bible multiple times, from Genesis to Revelation. I began reading it through the first time as a seeker, the next times to remember it and apply it and know it.
My hearts desire every morning is to talk to Jesus before I open my mouth to talk to anyone else.
If I don’t go to bed until 2am, I still make sure to be up at least 30 minutes early enough to spend time in the Word… even if it is just to read one Psalm, but I don’t read it just to read it… I never open my Bible that I don’t ask God to teach me… I always have something to learn and something that I need to work on in my spirit and every Word in the Word…
is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the [wo]man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work
2 Timothy 3:15-17
I don’t have a clue any longer who drives all the numbers on the cars going around the track of Daytona. I don’t have a clue anymore who pitches for the Braves. I don’t have a clue anymore who is the quarterback for Auburn. I don’t have a clue anymore who has a new movie out. I don’t have a clue who is on the bachelor. I don’t have a clue what book is on the latest best-sellers list.
I do still watch Nascar some, baseball some, college football some, even go to the movies some, and watch television and read books other than the Bible… but it is only some.
I have a Bible with me everywhere I go. If I am going to the dentist, the doctor, the park, my kids ball practice, anywhere where there will be any amount of waiting time, I take whatever Bible study I am in and work on it… and I am never not in a Bible study.
That is key
Don’t think for one minute that you will ever grow in the Word from flippant casual reading of it for your own personal entertainment.
Always, always, always, always pick up the Word of God with purpose.
Take what you read and see with it. Look for it. If you do, you will see that the Word of God is every where in every situation… there is not an inapplicable word in it. Every if, and, but, then, therefore, however, yet, whosoever is important.
I listen to the Word. I try with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength to live the Word.
I trust the Word. I go to the Word for every question, every decision, even supposed no-brainers, I go to the Word of my God for confirmation and direction.
I use the Word to explain things to my children. There is not a question they have asked me that I don’t point them to the answer in Scripture… even if I have to stop and hit the Strong’s, biblegateway.com, or call someone who knows more than me to help me find the answer.
The fact is I want to be used for God and I want to use all of God that He has given me. It doesn’t matter what of me must be forsaken in order to do it… whether it be sleep, my figure, my health. I just want to leave this earth fully used up for the glory of God… completely spent.
What good is a corpse with a six pack anyway?
My focus should always be holiness, it should always be with obedience to righteousness and not sin… and I believe with all my heart that if I truly am pursuing righteousness and holiness… then all else will take care of itself out of the overflow of obedience to my God… I don’t have to calculate calories if I am calculating the cost of following Christ. Jesus was a mover and a shaker… and He is hard to keep up with… so if I simply pursue Him… really and truly pursue Him in every area of my life… all else will be taken care of.
The bottom line is, we always manage to have time for the things that are important to us. You just have to stop and look at your heart and ask yourself… how does the way I spend my time and money show me about what is truly important to me… and now that I clearly see, what am I going to do about it.
I worry sometimes if I am sacrificing too much and spending too much time in the Word… and investing too much effort and time in doing all I can to share the gospel in the ways that are available to me where I am in this life and world, and I wonder if my kids are going to think I am a fuddy duddy who is competely clueless about life in the “real world” and will look at my efforts and think less of God instead of more… but if I leave this earth tomorrow… I would rather their lasting memory of me be… well, we know Momma loved the Word of God and His church, and not, well we know Momma loved the gym, loved the movies, loved running, loved scrapbooking, etc. None of these are bad things in themselves, but are they what you want others to remember you by?
If you left this earth tomorrow… how would others define you?
These are the things I think about. If today is my last day… would I go upstairs and change clothes and workout for an hour… or would I write this blog post?
But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…
Philippians 3:7-9